Archive for month: November, 2017

Amma’s programs in Munich are always marked by classical music – some of the musicians belong to Munich’s Philharmonic Orchestra. The musicians always make the time to lend their time and talents to Amma’s program, to the delight of all the program attendees. As Amma arrives on the stage, she is welcomed by these musicians, dressed in traditional Bavarian attire.

The Zenith Halle where Amma’s program is held was a factory converted into an event space, and Amma’s walk to her room is along a catwalk high on the wall of the main program hall. Thus the devotees are treated to the sight of Amma walking, alone and unencumbered by crowds, and Amma takes her time, looking back and down at all the devotees as she makes her way to her room. At the end of Amma’s walk, applause and cries of Mata Rani Ki Jai! mark the close of the program. This year, the path along the catwalk was adorned with chocolate hearts inscribed Danke Amma in honor of Amma’s 30th anniversary visit.

Another highlight of the programs was a traditional Bavarian Maypole dance, in which devotees created beautiful designs with ribbons extended from poles.

Special guests at Amma’s program included Mr. Sugandh Rajaram, Consul General of India to Munich and renowned theater, film and voice actor Rufus Beck. Maria Kriester, who met Amma in 1987 in Austria during Amma’s first world tour, and invited Amma to visit Munich, also spoke on the occasion. She was one of the main organizers of Amma’s programs in Munich for more than two decades. Ms. Kriester said, “How can we thank Amma for this wonderful gift of her love? Words are not enough to express our gratitude. We can only thank her by integrating all the spiritual values that she talks about and that she lives by into our own lives. When we become more selfless in our thinking, when our words are friendly and caring, and when we become more compassionate and humble in our actions. Then, Amma will be content because we have used her presence in the best way. In the name of all devotees in Germany, dear Amma, I want to express our highest reverence and gratitude for keeping us in your eternal embrace. Thank you Amma.”

Mr. Rajaram said, “I would like to, from the heart filled with joy, welcome Amma to Munich and express my deepest respects towards her. For many years, Amma has been a torch bearer of spiritualism and Indian culture all over the world. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Amma from the bottom of my heart for coming to Munich and blessing us.”

Rufus Beck said, “I had the opportunity to spend time with Amma. We laughed a lot together and she was really like a Mother to me. It felt very, very good… Amma is on a journey to touch people and to inspire them to take the first step to change this world for the better with love… Let me greet Amma with a quote by Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. He said: ‘That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.'”

In her own remarks to the crowd, Amma stressed the importance of being mindful in our interactions with others: “Every single person has hidden trauma and sorrow from their past. We should be careful while judging people. Patience is the greatest power. It awakens goodness in us as well as in others.”

At the close of the celebration of Amma’s 30th visit to Munich, classical musicians led the entire audience in a beautiful rendition of Joy to the World. As the crowd intoned, “Joy to the World, Amma has come,” as a special surprise, multi-colored heart-shaped balloons began to descend from the rafters, first 5, then 10, then dozens and scores. As the balloons reached the crowd below, they began to bat the balloons back into the air, reluctant to let them fall to the ground. The result was that even as balloons continued to descend, the ones that had fallen would rise back up, forming a beautiful dance of hearts, kept afloat by the attention and care of the devotees below. It was a spellbinding display, made all the more poignant by the song that reverberated throughout the hall. And though it lasted only a few minutes, time seemed to stretch, for it was a scene and moment that would not be soon forgotten – a pearl of love and celebration of compassion that would be imprinted in the hearts of all those who were there.

Amma’s visit to London was held at the Sandown Racecourse in Surrey. It was Amma’s 30th visit to London, and the occasion was marked by a special ceremony on the first evening of programs. Special guests included Academy-Award winning director Shekhar Kapur and Ambassador Dinesh K. Patnaik, Deputy High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom, and Maddy Harland, co-founder of the Sustainability Centre in Hampshire, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Institute of Theological Partnerships at the University of Winchester.

Ambassador Patnaik reflected, “When I see all of you sitting here with such incredible faith in a person like Amma, I realize that this is what is moving the world. This is what keeps the world intact. This is the faith that is strong enough to overcome any barriers… All of us have the ability to talk well, do well, we’re individuals with the same composition. But here is a person who can inspire you. But more than that, she uses her inspiration, not for a personal gain, but to do greater good. Faith and inspiration move this world. Fatherhood is a concept, motherhood is a reality.”

Maddy Harland said, “Meeting Amma and hearing her teachings some years ago has been one of the highlights of my life. Amma is a spiritual teacher, as you all know here, of the utmost power and insight in a world of escalating climate chaos, environmental destruction, displaced people and poverty. Her practical approaches to solving ecological and human crises collectively are quite unique. Amma is also a pioneer of health and hygiene through the clean India campaign and beyond.” She continued, “Amma’s holistic approach is spirituality in action. It’s the way we all need to live. We need to preserve this beautiful natural world that we’re blessed to live in. Amma teaches us that divinity is expressed through nature and that we are a part of the web of life… Amma is living, embodied proof that another world is possible, and she’s using her life to make it so.”

Amma’s 30th visit to London and the United Kingdom was commemorated by Mike Sofroniou, who helped to organize that first visit and every one since then. Mike recalled, “In the first year Amma held an evening programme in St James Church in Piccadilly and the sight of Amma singing and calling ecstatically out to the Divine sitting in front of the altar and against the backdrop of the magnificent stained glass window was profoundly moving. It felt as though Christianity and the ancient spirituality of India had come together in the living person of Amma. As she gave her loving darshan afterwards she encouraged us to sit around her and sing devotional songs. People were astonished and overwhelmed by Amma’s simplicity and accessibility.

“Then we moved to a small church in Kentish Town in 1989. In those days darshan went on until midnight and we wondered how Amma would be able to keep it up. How little did we know Amma and how could we know then that so many years later Amma would sit throughout the night into the morning hours. Even when all night darshan continued until 5 or 6 am and Amma had embraced people throughout the night when we were short of volunteers Amma would help with the clear up at the end of the programme, cleaning and helping dismantle the stage decorations. This was an act of compassion towards us and a wonderful example to every one of service and utter selflessness.

“It is this incredible example of selflessness and of living her life to exemplify her teachings that has drawn us all here today. Through the privilege of being able to help with the programmes in London I have experienced an incomparable education. I have found myself learning to do things which I had had no experience of and found very challenging and with Amma’s protective grace I have gained more confidence and hopefully some skill which has helped me in every aspect of my life; for this I am very grateful.”

The UK chapter of Amma’s environmental movement, GreenFriends, had pledged to plant 1,000 trees on a year earlier, on the occasion of Amma’s 29th visit to London. One year later, they were pleased to announce that they had surpassed their pledge, having planted 1,684 trees in various parts of the UK. They also announced that an acre of Woodland within the proposed World Heritage Site known as Darwin at Downe would be christened Amma’s Wood, in recognition of GreenFriends’ commitment to planting trees in the United Kingdom.

Amma honoured and recognized this effort, giving saplings to three generations of devotees as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations.

In her message, Amma spoke about the importance of recognizing the changing nature of the world, and on learning to control our own mind: “The circumstances of life will always keep changing. Change is nature’s unchanging law. However, it is we who make experiences bitter or sweet—our mind and our attitude. As long as we are unable to bring our mind under our control, sorrow will continue to hunt us down. However, once the mind comes under our control, then no problem or tragedy can devastate or paralyze us.”

The devotees of the UK also had a surprise for Amma – at the close of the 30th year celebrations, each of the thousands of people in attendance held up a yellow British wildflower, waving it gently in the air, creating a vision and feeling of a massive, peaceful valley of flowers, gently blown by the winds of divine grace of love.

Though Amma’s programs were held on weekdays (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), the MalpensaFiere program hall in Busto Arsizio was overflowing with devotees and newcomers who wanted to experience a few moments in Amma’s arms. The hall also overflowed with a classic Italian enthusiasm – the room reverberated with cries of Benvenuto Amma!! as Amma first arrived, and at the close of each program, the room erupted in applause.

The stage backdrop, created with the theme Light of Compassion, glowed magically behind Amma.

Amma was formally welcomed to Italy by the mayor of Busto Arsizio, Emanuele Antonelli, who said, “It is very exciting to see how many people have come here from all over Europe to receive Amma’s hug, the darshan, which contains the sweetness, the grace, the generosity, the spirituality of a truly exceptional woman. Thank you, also for the many and very important social activities she does and directs — a heartful thank you!”

Also on hand to welcome Amma was the renowned composer Maestro Pippo Rinaldi, who reflected, “I would like to quote by heart a great writer, Robert Musill, who said: ‘The ways of love are inscrutable, the ways of love are secret, but the highest expression of love is the hug.’ Thank you Amma for your hugs and your love, thank you.”

Mr. Pradeep Gautam, Consul of Indian Consulate in Milano also garlanded Amma and welcomed her to Italy.

There was a very special performance of singing glasses or musical wine glasses by a devotee.

Addressing the crowd, Amma spoke about God’s all-pervasive nature and the way the realization of that true nature will transform us completely: “God is the indivisible oneness devoid of all boundaries or separation. Mother Nature, the atmosphere, the birds and other animals, the plants and trees—each and every atom in them is overflowing with this divine power. God is fully present in all that is sentient and insentient. When we fully understand this truth, we can do nothing but love ourselves as well as everyone around us.”

As Amma walked from the program hall to her room on the other side of MalpensaFiere, her path was lined by devotees, morning and night. On Thursday morning, at the close of the all night Devi Bhava darshan, the program hall was nearly as packed as it had been the night before, as almost all the devotees chose this celebration of love over a night of sleep. This choice, made by so many in unison, gave hope that the love that pervaded that night in Milano would be carried forward into the lives of all those who were there, and by extension into the lives of all whose paths intersected with theirs — that ultimately, humanity as a whole, facing darkness and ignorance, would turn away, and choose light and love.

When Amma arrived to the venue, she was greeted with the traditional Swiss horn alphorn as hundreds of volunteers gathered to receive Amma.

During the two days of programs, gratitude for Amma’s 30 years of visiting Switzerland pervaded the air. In the morning of the first day of programs, Amma walked through a pathway of decorative arches created in celebration of Amma’s anniversary visit. During a ceremony celebrating Amma’s anniversary visit, Theresa Hadorn, head of Amma’s center in Flaach, Switzerland, reflected, “How can we thank Amma for the wonderful gift that she is giving us since 30 years? Words cannot express our gratitude. We can only try to act according to Amma’s spiritual advice that she shows us through her talks and through her very actions, in our own lives. When our thoughts become more selfless, when our words become filled with sympathy and love, and when humility and compassion express themselves through our actions, then Amma will be happy. In the name of all devotees, I thank Amma from the bottom of my heart for the gift that she continuously bestows upon us by coming here every year.”

Heidi Furer, president of Amma’s charitable organization in Switzerland, also spoke on the occasion. “When I received the gift of Amma’s Darshan in 1981 in India, this was a deep experience of endless love and it changed my life profoundly. It made me wish strongly, that all people all over the world should experience that kind of true love and happiness. Since her first visit in 1987, Amma has always visited Switzerland – 30 years without a break! What an unbelievable present! Without a lot of publicity, the events grew bigger and bigger every year. Soon we had to establish an association as we needed now larger halls. Since 1997 we also installed a kitchen, as Amma had wished. Many of our volunteers felt that we had more strength in working for Amma’s organisation than we usually have. ”

In the evening, Amma was welcomed to Switzerland by Mr. Amandeep Singh Gill, India’s Ambassador to the United Nations on Disarmament and International Security, who shared, “It’s a great honor to be in the presence of a saint, and to speak before all of you. Amma has opened the hearts of tens of thousands around the world and she has shown us how love can bring us together, regardless of race, religion or nationality. Your presence here is living proof of the enormous character of her work.”

Elly Pradervand, Founder/President and Executive Director of the Women’s World Summit Foundation, was also on hand for the event. The Women’s World Summit Foundation recently awarded Choti Kumari Singh, a 20-year-old staff member of Amma’s Amrita SeRVe Self-Reliant Village program, the “Women’s Creativity in Rural Life Award” for her efforts in uplifting the Musahars, the most downtrodden community of the state’s caste-ridden social system {news}. Ms. Pradervand said, “I take this opportunity to congratulate Amma for making this volunteer work financially possible through her Embracing the World initiatives and the other support programs. She is becoming the mother of the heroes we celebrate every year at Rural Women’s Day.”

Also as part of the celebration, people from all four regions of Switzerland dressed in their traditional attire, presented Amma with gifts of food items particular to their region, as a symbol of the entire country coming together to welcome and honor Amma and her message of love and compassion. At the close of the ceremony, Amma presented saplings to three generations of devotees – those who met Amma when she first came to Switzerland, their children, and their children’s children. Finally, devotees throughout the audience raised flags and allowed heart-shaped balloons to rise into the air, creating a beautiful spectacle of love and appreciation for Amma’s three decades of visiting Switzerland.

Fittingly, Amma’s two days of programs in Winterthur saw larger crowds than ever before, even through the night to the end of Devi Bhava, when countless people who had stayed through the night to spend every last moment in Amma’s presence, passed in front of Amma as she showered flowers on each one of them, worshipping the divinity in one and all – for this is where Amma sees God: in each and every person who comes to her.

Attendees to Amma’s programs at the Zenith Omega stadium in Toulon, Southern France once again packed the arena for three days straight. There was a special ceremony in celebration of Amma’s 30th anniversary of visiting Europe, and 20th anniversary of visiting Southern France. During the ceremony, Amma was presented with two awards for her lifetime of work as a spiritual leader and humanitarian.

The Soldiers of Peace International Association presented Amma with its ‘Commemorative Gold Medal for Peace.’ The organisation’s President, Laurent Attar-Bayrou, addressed the thousands of people assembled. “As military men coming from different countries, we have fought, arms in hand, for the sake of peace, under the Blue Helmet of the United Nations. We affirm today that lasting peace comes only from the hearts and the minds of men. Those who are fighting with you Amma have understood this; we as well. Your fight, Amma, is our fight. Amma, you give meaning to life, allowing hope for those who have nothing. This hope is the very essence of humanity. With you and through your example and joy, the poor discover fulfilment and the rich gain humility. Fully dedicated to your mission, you shake the walls of indifference. On this earth, you sow hope. From this water, you draw love. From these skies, you make hearts blossom and shine.”

Before presenting Amma with the award, Laurent Attar-Bayrou, said, “We are not pacifists or warmongers, but practical men. We gather for the sake of conflict resolution, human rights, education and sports. We recognise our mission in yours. You are also a Soldier of Peace, and we will walk with you in your quest for love.”

The second award was presented by Monique Robineau, Delegate of the President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region. “It is an immense pleasure for me to be here tonight with you Amma, and to offer you the Medal of the Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur Region, on behalf of its President, Mr Renaud Muselier.”

Monique Robineau added, “Your darshan has enabled me to see how you can clear the tears of all these people and provide hope, through the love that you give in your embrace. We are very proud of welcoming you once more on our land, that you have filled and brightened with all your love. In this world shattered by conflicts and crisis leading to insularity and paralysis, your message and embrace bring hope to our hearts and light to our spirits.”

Presenting Amma with the medal “with all the gratitude, respect and love of this land and its inhabitants,” Monique Robineau said, “This is for all the work that you have done for the lives of so many people. You are the Ambassador of Love and Peace in the world.”

At the close of the 30th anniversary celebration, a special surprise awaited – the entire arena stood and waved paper hearts in the air, while at the rear of the arena, directly in front of Amma, more than 1,000 people, holding white and red sheets of paper in perfect coordination, stood up and transformed themselves into a massive heart, red against a white background.

Another special moment during the programs came in the form of a cake. Three years ago, Amma blessed a project to build Promise House, a drop-in center for teenage girls facing difficulties in their lives. This year, the devotees who had established the new center brought Amma a cake topped by a rose-shaped jewelry case. Inside the case was the key to the new Promise House, as the center is about to open its doors.

And thus Amma’s love finds its way, like a winding river, into the lives of those who have never even heard her name. For 30 years now, this river has been flowing, watering the hearts and minds of all who cross its path, and many never set foot in it, yet are touched by those who did.

Researchers at Amrita Hospital have turned a substance commonly found in bones into a potent weapon that can seek and kill tumour cells.

Tiny particles of calcium phosphate, a biomineral that is a natural constituent of the bone, when doped with similarly small iron particles, can become what medical scientists call a theranostic agent, a substance that serves both diagnostic and therapeutic functions, the Amrita Hospital scientists found.

The team led by Shantikumar Nair and Manzoor Koyakutty of the Centre for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine at AMRITA demonstrated that these iron-doped calcium phosphate nanoparticles, at least 10-fold smaller than the smallest dust particle, can be guided to the liver where tumour-afflicted tissues can be scarred using radio waves.

“We have been working on calcium phosphate nanoparticles that can be used for tissue engineering applications, for a while. But our interest was in finding whether this material could be used for imaging (diagnostic) applications,” said Koyakutty.

So they synthetically prepared these nanocrystals and doped them with impurities that have magnetic properties so that they can be used for MRI scans or similarly with X-ray-absorbing particles to make them suitable for X-ray imaging.

One such nanocomposite they prepared was iron-doped calcium phosphate nanoparticles, which they found could be a good imaging substance. While working with this nanocomposite, the AMRITA researchers quite accidentally discovered that they have an ability to heat up when exposed to certain types of radio waves.

“It is then that we decided to explore whether this material could be used to burn tumour tissues,” said Koyakutty, the lead author of a recent paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.

This technique of using radio waves for killing cancer cells is called radiofrequency (RF) ablation, and scientists elsewhere have been developing it as a plausible treatment for cancers of different organs such as lungs, liver and oesophagus.

Biodegradable
“Most of the materials currently being explored as heat-generating materials for RF ablation — such as gold nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes or graphene — suffer from an inherent problem: they are non-biodegradable. Calcium phosphate, on the other side, being part and parcel of the bone mineral, is easily biodegradable.”

The current challenge with RF ablation is that as the thermal conductance of tissues is low, heat will not spread well enough to a large area in order to kill all cancer cells. It is useful if the cancer area is restricted to an area of 3-5 cm.

Koyakutty admitted that this may remain a challenge. But they are hoping they can evenly spread these nanoparticles through the cancer cells if they can be tagged with certain tumour-specific molecules which bind to the malignant cells.

As the next step, the scientists plan to try this out on rabbits where they hope to target tumour tissues of 3 cm diameter.

The 2017 Europe Tour started with Amma’s 3-day program at her center in Hof Herrenberg, Brombachtal, Germany. This is the 30th consecutive year that Amma has visited Germany. Amma’s children from different parts of Germany and all over Europe flocked to Brombachtal to participate in the tour’s inaugural program.

Amma was welcomed to Germany by Mr. Willie Kredel, Mayor of Brombachtal and Mr. Stefan Kelbert, Mayor of Michelstadt as part of a ceremony celebrating Amma’s 30th visit to Germany.

In his remarks, Mayor Kredel reflected, “Last year, I started my speech with “wow!” because in Brombachtal, we don’t often see this many people of this many nationalities in one place. To be very honest, it makes me proud that we have this center at Hof Herrenberg in Brombachtal. It is pure joy to look into the faces of so many loving people, some of them full of anticipation. We have been and will continue to, support these events in whatever way we can. Knowing that Amma is such a fantastic person, who does so much good in this world, gives me even more joy.”

Mayor Kelbert shared his own feelings about having Amma visit their community each year: “I am happy to be a part of this world, both on behalf of the city of Michelstadt and personally. Even though we are standing on stage right now, we feel like we are a part of all of you.

Moi Leevke Wolfsteller, the chairperson of Amma’s charitable organization in Germany, gave a moving speech commemorating Amma’s anniversary visit: “It all started 30 years ago, and I remember it like it was yesterday.

In those days, Amma’s programs did not take place in halls like this one, but in living rooms of people who admired Amma, in yoga studios, doctors’ offices, local community centers. We used to rent class rooms in schools. Since then, the halls got bigger and the crowds grew more and more.

So much change. So much growth. The only factor that has remained unchanged is our Amma. Her limitless love and her limitless compassion flow continuously towards us, over and over and over again. Regardless of whether it is 35 or 3,500 people.

For 30 years, we have been recipients of this unbelievable love. We cannot find the right words for this beautiful gift that Amma has been giving us without a break for such a long time. There are no words for this.

How can we thank Amma for returning again and again? It is Amma’s wish that we integrate the spiritual values that she talks about and that she exemplifies, into our own lives. If we become more loving and more selfless in our thoughts, more caring and sensitive in our words, more compassionate and humble in our actions, both towards ourselves and towards others, that is our thanks to Amma.

In the name of all devotees in Germany, dearest Amma, I would like to express our deepest admiration and our innermost gratefulness for holding us and our country continuously in your embrace. From the bottom of our hearts: Thank you.”

On this occasion, Amma handed over oak saplings to the residents of M.A. Center in Brombachtal. The trees will be planted on the property of the center in memory of this momentous and sacred occasion.

AYUDH presented Amma with a garland of seeds enclosed in beautiful heart-shaped papers, each one inscribed with a prayer for world peace. The papers can be planted directly into the ground to grow into beautiful trees, living symbols of the love and light that Amma has inscribed into the hearts of each of these children that have grown up under her wing.

The program ended with a surprise – each person at the program – thousands of Amma’s children, all stood and waved flags reading Danke Amma – forming a beautiful tapestry of gratitude and joy.

All three days of the program saw thousands passing through the doors of MA Center and into Amma’s arms. Each night, as Amma made her way back from the program hall, her path was lined with devotees holding hearts and lamps, each one offering a prayer, “May this lamp symbolize the light of your love, and may it burn forever brightly in our hearts.”